Traffic - 1973 [2003] "On The Road"

On The Road is the second live album (two LPs, reissued on one CD) by English rock band Traffic, released in 1973. Recorded live in Germany, it features the Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory lineup plus extra keyboardist (for live performances) Barry Beckett.

The initial U.S. release of On the Road (Island/Capitol) 1973 was as a single LP consisting of: "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" (edited to 15:10), "Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory", "(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired", and "Light Up or Leave Me Alone".

The whole album, which was originally a two disc vinyl album, is on one disc. The tracks are long and extended, and given a jazz feel; but never boring. One of the best Traffic albums ever. This was recored live in Germany. If you like traffic, this ones a real winner. It's just as exciting today, as it was the day it was released.

Backed by Muscle Shoals sidemen, Winwood, Capaldi, and Wood rock like never before. Traffic songs that were already great were transformed into extended jazzy jams with interesting interplay between all the players. A funky groove unites all the separate tracks, making this a great driving album or a soundtrack for doing housework. Too bad the sidemen split from Traffic after this, since the album promised potential future development that might have significantly altered the direction of contemporary music. As it is, it's a lesser-known gem in the rock archive that is absolutely necessary for any true music fan of 70's progressive rock.

The 1973 line-up of Traffic was captured on disc with the appropriately-named On The Road, the group’s live album which entered the UK chart on 24 November that year. In America, the initial release was a single-LP set of four extended performances, but at home, it merited a double-disc edition, with six tracks including three from the then-current studio set Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory.

Founder members Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood were joined on the 1973 tour by their Ghanaian percussionist of recent times, Rebop Kwaku Baah, plus collaborators David Hood (bass), Roger Hawkins (drums) and Barry Beckett on organ and piano. They began the year with an extensive North American tour, then a European leg included visits to such cities as Bologna, Vienna and Frankfurt.

The whole of side one of the UK double album was taken up with an epic, 20-minute performance combining ‘Glad’ and ‘Freedom Rider.’  In addition to the title track from Shoot Out…, the set included its fellow LP tracks ‘Tragic Magic,’ composed by Wood, and the Winwood/Capaldi co-write ‘(Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired.’ On The Road concluded with ‘Light Up Or Leave Me Alone’ and the title track from the same 1971 album Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys, which itself ran to 17 minutes.

Reportedly released as an effort to undercut bootleggers following a world tour, Traffic: On the Road was the band's second live album in three years. The album chronicled a late edition of the band in which original members Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, and Chris Wood were augmented not only by percussionist Reebop Kwaku Baah, but also by a trio of session musicians from the famed Muscle Shoals studio, Roger Hawkins, David Hood, and Barry Beckett. The studio pros lent a tightness and proficiency to their characteristic free-form jams, and though they sometimes sounded like they couldn't wait to get the songs over with, the tunes went on and on, four clocking in at over ten minutes. That might have been okay if the choice of material had been more balanced across the band's career, but 1971's Welcome To the Canteen had treated earlier efforts, and the 1973 tour was promoting Shoot Out At the Fantasy Factory, from which three of the six selections were drawn. Unfortunately, that album was not one of Traffic's best, and the live versions of its songs were no more impressive than the studio ones had been. Traffic: On the Road featured plenty of room for soloing by some good musicians, but it was the logical extreme of the band's forays into extended performance, with single tunes taking up entire sides on the original LPs. It's not surprising that, after this, Traffic shrunk in size and returned to shorter songs. [Though best known in its two-LP version, Traffic: On the Road was initially released in the U.S. as a single LP containing only four tracks.]

The album reached number 40 in the UK and number 29 in the USA.

Track listing:

1. Glad / Freedom Rider (20:49)
2. Tragic Magic (8:30)
3. (Sometimes I Feel So) Uninspired (10:20)
4. Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory (6:40)
5. Light Up Or Leave Me Alone (10:30)
6. Low Spark Of High-Heeled Boys (17:35)

Total Time: 74:24

Personnel

    Steve Winwood – guitar, lead vocals (1, 3, 4, 6), piano
    Chris Wood – flute, saxophone
    Jim Capaldi – percussion, lead vocals (5), drums (4)
    Rebop Kwaku Baah – percussion
    Barry Beckett – organ, piano
    David Hood – bass
    Roger Hawkins – drums